


The Future Seemed So Bright

by louiscontroll



Series: One Direction One-Shots [5]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Car Accidents, Coma, Gen, Hospitals, OT5 Friendship, zianourry - Freeform, zianourry friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 00:38:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1799077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louiscontroll/pseuds/louiscontroll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall's just gone. He was there one day, and now - now they don't know. The rest of the boys are not okay with this. </p><p>Or, One Direction go through the five stages of grief.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Future Seemed So Bright

He doesn't remember what happened, but as his eyes crack open, Niall finds himself in the front seat of a car - of  _his_  car - and something's crushing his chest and he can't  _breathe._

Someone beside him squeezes his hand and he forces his head to turn. It's Harry, in the passenger seat. Niall vaguely remembers Harry calling shotgun when they got in the car because they were going...to rehearsals, he thinks, but after that? He doesn't know. 

"Ni?" Harry says quietly, too quietly, or maybe Niall just can't hear him right. "Hey, just stay awake, okay?"

Niall opens his mouth to say something but he can't find the words so he says nothing at all. A small groan escapes his lips. Why does it hurt so much?

Finally his vision clears and he sees just what happened. The windowshield of the car is in pieces, the glass scattered along the dashboard. It's the same with the window to the left of Niall. And out the window - there's another car, right up close, crashed into the side - oh. That's what happened. 

"Is everyone okay?" Niall's vision is fogging up again, but that's Liam, he's sure of it. 

"I'm okay," Harry replies, still speaking softly, "Somehow. But Niall's not - I think he hit his head, and he's..." Harry's voice breaks off for a second, "...between the steering wheel and the door's caved in."

Niall does feel something crushing his chest, and it hurts, a lot. Is Harry saying it's the steering wheel? Aren't the airbags supposed to come on? The car falls silent before a strained voice that Niall thinks is Zayn says, "I'm okay but - but Lou hasn't woken up."

Then Niall's trying to turn his head back to see Louis but he can't and a small whine escapes his lips, whether from pain or frustration, he doesn't know. "It's okay, Ni," Harry says again, "Just stay awake."

Apparently, Niall's brain thinks now is the time for irony and a wave of exhaustion hits him just as he realizes there's blood on his hands, coming from his stomach, or chest, or something. He can't even focus, but still, he tries to see the other boys. 

Zayn's found a phone and he's calling an ambulance, and shortly after, there's a mumble from the backseat. "What happened?"

"Lou!" Zayn cries, which makes Niall's head hurt. "Lou, hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah." There's a long pause between Louis' sentences and it's almost certain he's concussed. "I think - is everyone else?"

Niall's eyes shut once, but then Harry squeezes his hand again and taps his cheek. "Stay awake, Ni. Just stay awake. Help is on its way." The other boys chime in, telling Niall to stay awake, not to fall asleep. 

But Niall can't. A blanket covers his eyes and he lets go.

**********

**1\. Denial - Liam**

Liam feels like he's been sitting in the waiting room for days, but it's only been hours. Louis and Niall both had to go, Niall directly into surgery, while he, Harry and Zayn all had to stay here, in a cold, artifically-lit waiting room. 

There isn't much conversation and Liam's okay with that. He knows they're going to be okay. It's just some waiting, that's all. He can wait. He can do that. 

A short while later, a nurse calls them into Louis' room, explaining that he has a concussion and needs to be on the 24 hour watch, but otherwise is fine. Louis himself is sitting up, his eyes a bit glassy, but attentive. "Oh my god, Lou!" Liam says as soon as he sees the older boy, crushing him in a hug, "You're okay!"

"I'm okay, Li," Louis says quietly, his voice slower than normal, but fine. He's fine. "How's Niall?"

Liam draws back out of the hug - Harry and Zayn are quick to jump in - and says, "Nobody's told us anything yet." There's a long silence. "He'll be fine. He has to be."

"Yeah, yeah," Louis agrees. "Yeah, he will be..."

Louis goes back to sleep for half an hour - and when he wakes back up, there's still no news. Liam's growing panicked but hey, these are long procedures that take careful concentration, right? It doesn't mean anything. 

Finally, a doctor enters the room, his face grim. "Are you family of Niall Horan?" he asks. "I was told there was family in here?"

"We're not family," Liam says, "But we're his friends - his family's out of country."

The doctor nods, thinking for a second, before saying, "I'll tell you what's happened so you can pass it to his family when they arrive. I am the doctor that operated on Mr. Horan - his injuries were extensive, and although we managed to stop the internal bleeding, Mr. Horan also received a head injury."

The boys wait, and Liam's gut feeling is telling him that bad news is coming, but he ignores it because he can't think that right now. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that combined with the trauma, Mr. Horan is in a coma."

And Liam's world shatters. 

The rest of the boys are all asking questions - "Is he going to wake up?" "Can we see him?" "What do you mean, coma?" - but Liam doesn't know what's going on. It's  _Niall_. He's going to be okay. The word "coma" seems too scary to think about - but he's going to be okay. He's got to be okay. What are they going to do if he isn't?

They're allowed to see him, and somehow Louis persuades the doctor to let him come, too, so they're all taken to Niall's room. Liam can only stare. The blonde boy looks too pale and too small against the large white sheets. His icy blue eyes are shut, hidden from the world, which isn't fair,  _none of this is fair..._ _  
_

"He'll be okay." It takes a while for Liam to realize he's spoken out loud. "Right? He'll wake up. It won't take long."

Nobody says anything. Liam knows he wouldn't be able to say anything, either. What is there to say?

Liam keeps telling himself that everything's going to work out even when Niall doesn't wake up the next day, or the next, or the next, or even the week after. 

And finally he just starts to cry as he's holding Niall's hand in the hospital, three weeks after the accident, because he knows it isn't okay, and it won't ever be. 

**********

**2\. Anger - Louis**

This is a rare day, because it's a day that none of them are at the hospital. Normally at least one of them are there, with Niall, waiting for his eyes to open and say something stupid like "what's the craic" and this nightmare will be over. But it's been a month, and that hasn't happened yet. 

But today, management has forbid them to leave, mostly because there's a hoard of screaming girls outside the hotel they're currently staying at, which means they'll have to move in the morning. So they're all sitting on sofas, fairly quiet, until suddenly Harry says, "Give me the remote, Li," and Liam won't give it to him. 

Louis doesn't care - Harry and Liam always argue over the television remote - but today, it's just so  _irrelevant._  They keep fighting over it, even when Zayn tells them to "knock it off" and finally, Louis can't do it anymore. 

"Shut the  _fuck_  up!" he growls, snapping his head up from his phone and causing all three boys to freeze. "Why the fuck are you fighting over something so  _stupid_  when he's - when he's not here?"

Nobody says anything, so Louis keeps going, because now everything's coming out. "It's not fair to him! It's like you don't care! It's been a month and nothing and - it didn't even take that long? It took you a month before you were okay again? That's all?"

Louis is very aware that he's crying but he doesn't acknowledge it. "That's just not okay," he says. "Not okay at all."

Louis squeezes his eyes shut and then suddenly there's a tight pair of arms around him - it feels like Liam - and he buries his face into Liam's shirt, clenching his fists. "I'm sorry," Louis whispers, again and again. "Fuck, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Lou," Liam says, and then Harry and Zayn are there too. "It's okay. You're okay."

"It's not," Louis says, but he stays where he is. "It's not okay."

None of the boys say anything because he's right. 

**********

**3\. Bargaining - Zayn**

Three months had passed and nothing. Not a sign, not a movement, nothing. 

Zayn's lost in thought himself, sitting on the uncomfortable chair next to Niall's bed, when Louis enters the room. "Hey, Z," Louis says, handing Zayn a cup of coffee, like he knows that Zayn slept here last night (which he probably does). "I've been meaning to talk to you about something. You remember the accident?"

Louis always rushes into things if he's not sure how it'll be received. "How could I forget?" Zayn replies. 

"Well...you remember that the truck that hit us was coming from the right, yeah?"

Zayn stops for a minute, thinking about it. He had been joking around with Liam, and then Louis told him a joke, and then - "Yeah, it came from the right. It drove through the red light."

"Exactly. So why did it hit our left side?"

Suddenly everything freezes. "Shit," Zayn says. "Oh, shit. It did. Nobody - nobody was on that side - it hit the front left side - it hit  _Niall_."

Louis just stares at Zayn sadly. "Niall swerved. He fucking swerved at the last second like the hero he is and took the hit for us. If he hadn't - I don't know what would've happened."

Quietly, Zayn mumbles, "It would've been me, Lou. It would've been me, and Harry."

Louis doesn't say anything. "It should've been me," Zayn continues. "If I - If I had done something. I could've done something. It should've hit me, I should be there, Niall shouldn't be, of all people it shouldn't be Niall-"

"Hey." Louis puts a hand on Zayn's shoulder, stopping the Bradford boy from saying anything else. "It shouldn't be any of us."

"But Niall saved us. He's a hero, he doesn't deserve this-"

"And neither do you."

But Zayn never quite believed him. 

**********

**4\. Depression - Harry**

It's been five months and Harry can't think. He's always wondered, through this whole thing, why he hasn't cried once, and this might be it. 

Because today, as soon as he woke up, every emotion he'd been neglecting to feel just rushed into him and he started to sob, howling, even, as the cries escaped his lips. He sunk to his knees, just letting everything out, but it wasn't enough,  _it wasn't enough_...

Someone runs into the room - Zayn? Liam? Louis? Maybe all of them? - and he's being held because they all know what this is about. But Harry keeps sobbing and he can't stop and he's  _sorry_  but he can't. 

"Shh," someone says. It's definitely Zayn. "Please, Haz. Please, you're going to be okay."

"I'm s-sorry!" Harry wails. "I can't - I c-can't..."

"Shh, no, just breathe with me, please, just breathe..." Harry tries, he does, but it doesn't seem worth it. Niall's been gone for five months and every day life has just been getting harder and today, today he knew it wasn't worth it to hold anything back. So he doesn't. 

A long time goes by but finally Harry manages to copy Zayn's breaths and then Louis and Liam are both holding him too, and this isn't just for him anymore. 

They all need someone to hold because one of them is gone. And even though they're all hugging each other, it doesn't feel complete. 

*********

**5\. Acceptance - Niall**

The lights are too fucking bright and everything hurts but he's alive, he thinks. He hopes. 

His fingers clench and he realizes someone's got a hold of his hand, and then vaguely he hears someone call his name. It's like he's hearing through a filter, but he struggles to regain control of his body again and his eyes open even more. When they finally do, he's greeted by the sight of his four best friends, all looking somewhat relieved, distraught, and ecstatic at the same time. 

"Shit, Niall!" That's Louis. Before he can speak, he's being crushed in a tight hug tighter than any he's ever had, and all four of them are piling on top of him, only leaving when a nurse finally gets there. Niall's checked over, and deemed okay, and they can take him home  _that night._

"You little - don't you pull a stunt like that again, you hear me?"

Zayn's words confuse him at first, because he doesn't remember, but then he does - he knows he swerved the car. "Sorry," he says, his voice raspy, "Can't promise it."

And they laugh, and it's okay. 

It's finally going to be okay. 

 


End file.
